When they want to divide the people, their slogan is ‘Us and Them.’ When they want to show loyalty to the dictatorship, to alienate others, and confirm their physical and spiritual oneness with the dictator himself, their slogan is “NNNN”- we are him and he is us, meaning the dictator. And they are right ‘they are him we are us’ the children of the proud Eritrea even when our country is sick because we are confident it will be healthy again.

Occam’s razor, is a fantastic tool and explains how we should deal with our predicament, our problems. It helps us define and find a solution to our confused state. When hair is infested with lice, shaving it denies a refuge to pests and could enable what’s inside the skull, the disabled brain to function properly. WE must try Occam’s razor.

Todays’ Negarit 383 which is entitled Occam’s Razor will address the above topics. In the meantime, those who have not subscribed to Negarit, please do. Thank you. I hope you enjoy the episode.

The previous episode, Negarit 82, has garnered many comments. I wanted to reply to some selected comments, but I couldn’t for lack of time. However, someday I will find a way of doing that. For today, I will reply to one comment by Solomon Tekle because I found it to be serious and important. I hope I will do the same with the other comments in the future.

Dear Solomon,

I salute you for bringing your views to the open. And thought I agree with some of the views, I do not agree with some of the views you expressed.

If you ask me what I wish to see in Eritrea, I would tell you, I wish that Eritrea will be engulfed with stability, prosperity, and a free country governed by the rule of law. Next, I dream of a country where citizens can respect their differences and solve them in unison so that they can live in harmony. And that is why I consider your comment important and deserves a serious replay—it’s natural to have difference of opinion, but it’s deplorable to consider all those who differed with your opinion as enemies and declare war against them.

Leaving the views, we agree upon aside, I will present my argument the views with which I have issues. Your views emanate from your belief of “US against THEM”. Such outlook kills a debate in the bud. You vs US a dichotomy that embraces some people and alienates others. Thereafter, those who are considered part of the US are brought closer and those who are considered THEM are pushed further. Furthermore, the US and them pronouns are not treated as such but are elevated to an ideology and that when the attack on the THEM is pursued.

You consider those of us you compartmentalized THEM, as the fascist Agazian and as those who are treasonous. On the contrary, those you considered US, as people who toil day and night for the wellbeing of their country, as people who care only for the interest of the country. Mind you, the final target of such a beginning leads to acts of decimating individuals and not their ideas. That is why It leads to nowhere but towards more bickering, confusion, and disarray. Basically, it is an argument that wrongly concludes that you are a patriot while others are not, adding arrogance in your attitudes, undermining and belittling others. Patriotism is a deed and not a certificate of chauvinism that one awards to himself.

You have adequately described what Eritreans paid to achieve their goals of independence, liberation and sovereignty. But your mistake is that you considered safeguarding the sovereignty of a country is if it’s just two choices—either one aligns with “Weyane” the Tigrayan ruling party, or siding with the Eritrean ruling party that is exposing the Eritrean sovereignty to risk and putting it in a precarious situation..

But there is a third choice: following the path that tens of thousands of Eritrean martyrs sacrificed their lives for. The thousands of patriots who fell to ensure that Eritrea is ruled by the rule of law, be just, and to accommodate its people by maintaining stability and social harmony. And the Eritrean justice camp is pursuing just that goal. And that. Is why we oppose the ruling party that have turned Eritrea into a large prison, where there is a perpetual shortage of drinking water, and a country whose people, including the old and the young flee from in their thousands. And that’s why we condemn and oppose those who seek solutions by selling Eritrea on the cheap and being driven by external and internal politicians to divide our people along sectarian and racial lines by promoting archaic political devices. But opposing doesn’t mean selling your soul to the Eritrean dictatorship and cheering for it regardless of what it does. Doing that cannot be distinguished from being a mercenary.

What do we call a regime that jails women and children? What do you call a dictator who hampers development of his country but is elated when he inaugurate developmental projects in Ethiopia? One who kills legislative and judicial powers? One who distances and mistreats veterans and embraces the Arrivista and opportunists? One who throws the handicapped and aged veterans to the sheds of the dilapidated Kagnew barracks1 One who is mean faced when with his people but all smiles and excitement in Ethiopia! How is that considered respecting the sovereignty of Eritrea? Ask yourself, what have the Eritrean people gained after two years of so-called peace deal with Ethiopia? On the contrary, even children are trekking to refugee camps in the territories of Tigray under the Weyane that the Eritrean regime belittles and abhors so much.

It would be tolerable if you would support the regime while you preserve your dignity and conscience. But considering darkness an alternative to light, considering the hardships as prosperity, and suffering as a luxury, and still cheering for the regime, is denying yourselves any respect. And anyone who stripes himself naked willingly should not expect respect from others.

Finally, regarding the Agazian scare that you mentioned, I believe many people are underestimating the tolerance of Eritreans or they do not know it. And that is why I am surprised that any sane person would think that such fascists who cannot clean their noses, or extremists of any political or sectarian colour, would deceive Eritreans into abandoning their course. If anyone does not realize that, they are seriously underestimating the resolve of Eritreans.

Enlightenment

l have been looking for a Tigrinya equivalent of “Enlightenment” for too long but I finally found it in an interview that Major General Tekhleberhan Weldearegai conducted. I am glad he answered the lingering question about a concept or translation of the word that I failed to find a Tigrinya equivalent to.

Abrehot is a literal translation from English or other living languages because for centuries, it has been pitch-darkness in Habeshaland. Whatever light existed was extinguished by people who have the same thinking as the current fascist outgrowth known as the G’Ezeyan bigots.

Abrehot substitutes the English adjective of enlightenment or the Arabic Tenweer and it is an antonym of backwardness. It’s about modernity and not about dwelling in pitch darkness. It’s about a robust progressive civilization that abhors clinging to backwardness. Abrehot is enlightenment, Tenweer.

Occam’s Razor

Occam’s Razor is named after the Franciscan monk and philosopher William Occam. It’s an ancient philosophy developed over time but it became associated with the thinking of Occam who overshadowed all others before him.

Occam used it to explain divinity and metaphysical topics in simple forms, by shaving off excessive proposals for solving a problem. Thus, his razor shaves off much of the complicated and long winded solutions leaving the bare minimum, the simplest is likely the best solution. When there are many competing hypotheses with the same predictions for the same problem, “the simplest solution is most likely the right one”. I am using it here in its simplest form to demonstrate how we can focus on the simplest solutions and avoid complicating our social and political problems.

Of course, that was developed to explain theological views which is not my scope here. We are talking about the sentiments commoners that are simplistic, with simpler explanations as Occam’s razor.

Even in economics, the razor shaves all excess views: “It is futile to do with more things that which can be done with fewer” Also known as the rule of simplicity.

Of course, it is not that simple in different disciplines, where any competing hypothesis is taken into consideration, or at least until proven wrong by other views. So, I am proposing we use Occam’s razor to shave off the complex explanations until we are left with the bare minimum.

Maybe adding supernatural or metaphysical arguments would seem attractive, especially if said by an authority figure that might mislead those who are prone to accepting anything from the leaders, chiefs, religious personalities, etc.

I understand this is very simplistic and it could have negative repercussions or might prevent the pursuit of further examinations or studies of a specific problem, but this is about Occam’s razor and how we can use it to solve our predicament. And I will limit it to that.

So, we can use the razor to find an immediate resolution, but anyone interested in a better solution should present one, and it better be simpler or proved beyond doubt. In the abstract world the Agazian has pushed us in, Occam’s razor is the best tool.

Eritreans will prevail. They will defeat the forces of darkness, backwardness and ignorance. We will overcome the passing difficulties; we will clear the clouds of anxiety and frustrations. Eritrea will finally enjoy the fruits of its struggle by establishing rule of law and full justice where citizens will not be harassed for their views, we will not be punished for refusing to bow down and submit to the usurpers of power. Eritreans will one day be ruled by leaders they elect, and they will be loyal to them, because they dully elected them.

About Saleh "Gadi" Johar

Born and raised in Keren, Eritrea, now a US citizen residing in California, Mr. Saleh “Gadi” Johar is founder and publisher of awate.com. Author of Miriam was Here, Of Kings and Bandits, and Simply Echoes. Saleh is acclaimed for his wealth of experience and knowledge in the history and politics of the Horn of Africa. A prominent public speaker and a researcher specializing on the Horn of Africa, he has given many distinguished lectures and participated in numerous seminars and conferences around the world.
Activism
Awate.com was founded by Saleh “Gadi” Johar and is administered by the Awate Team and a group of volunteers who serve as the website’s advisory committee. The mission of awate.com is to provide Eritreans and friends of Eritrea with information that is hidden by the Eritrean regime and its surrogates; to provide a platform for information dissemination and opinion sharing; to inspire Eritreans, to embolden them into taking action, and finally, to lay the groundwork for reconciliation whose pillars are the truth.
Miriam Was Here
This book that was launched on August 16, 2013, is based on true stories; in writing it, Saleh has interviewed dozens of victims and eye-witnesses of Human trafficking, Eritrea, human rights, forced labor.and researched hundreds of pages of materials. The novel describes the ordeal of a nation, its youth, women and parents. It focuses on violation of human rights of the citizens and a country whose youth have become victims of slave labor, human trafficking, hostage taking, and human organ harvesting--all a result of bad governance. The main character of the story is Miriam, a young Eritrean woman; her father Zerom Bahta Hadgembes, a veteran of the struggle who resides in America and her childhood friend Senay who wanted to marry her but ended up being conscripted.
Kings and Bandits
Saleh “Gadi” Johar tells a powerful story that is never told: that many "child warriors" to whom we are asked to offer sympathies befitting helpless victims and hostages are actually premature adults who have made a conscious decision to stand up against brutality and oppression, and actually deserve our admiration. And that many of those whom we instinctively feel sympathetic towards, like the Ethiopian king Emperor Haile Sellassie, were actually world-class tyrants whose transgressions would normally be cases in the World Court.
Simply Echoes
A collection of romantic, political observations and travel poems; a reflection of the euphoric years that followed Eritrean Independence in 1991.

What drew my attention while going through the transcript of this edition of Negarit is the new term for “enlightenment” which Saleh said it satisfied him. Let me applaud first the one who coined it. Abrehot will probably enter the Tigrinya lexicon. The issue reminded me of what I with others experienced during the armed struggle era – hence this may be undue digression with an apology in advance.

Speakers of dormant or lagging languages feel the impact of poverty and backwardness when they get challenged by exigencies of modernization. As is known, the mother of expansion of languages are literary and cultural productions, which are outcomes of balanced material and spiritual advancements. Incompatibility of an existing reality and the need of the time push the strain to the stage.

Eritreans, as well as other peoples, trying to change conditions do depend on counterparts elsewhere who become blessed by consummation of modernization. In order to cope and survive, those in need struggle to copy, translate and adapt. We Eritreans have also been experiencing the travail.

The need became more apparent with the beginning of the political and armed struggle. The first phase of it (up to beginning of 1970), Eritrean struggled to find needed terms on various fields from Arabic because most of the fighters and cadres were products of Arabic schools and trainings. But later on, when Tigrinya only speaking compatriots joined the field in large numbers, the need to find terms became compounded. People had to try to find matching or equivalent terms they had found in books. Sometimes, it turned an uphill work – debating, agreeing, disagreeing, relatively succeeding and failing moments. Sometimes, people settled on weird and senseless terms such as “kisad” for strategy or “quwam” for constitution – copied from EPLF, which still is vogue. For some of us, the latter express policy rather than constitutions. Why “Hige Mengisti”, which the founding fathers chose as more meaningful term, was abandoned is not known – perhaps the ego of the Capo wanted it as did in regard to the flag (burnt out olive leaves in place of bright green.

Kokhob Selam

Yes Brother Ismail,

I remember when we were in ELF, it was difficult to get Tigrinya terms for some words..like “cell ” which we in ELF use NEBS ANBET while EPLF use the word WAHYO which indicates the very first living thing..I saw the term ” Abrehot” in Ethiopian Fana Broad cast and I was interested us it . And sure I will use it Jebena soon..

KS,,

Berhe Y

Dear Saleh,

Thank you for the wonderful video. I have not read what you were responding to “Solomon Tekle” perhaps it will help give context if you provide a link if you think is necessary.

I didn’t know about Occam’s Razor and was not familiar to the term. I know about KISS (Keep It Stupid Simple). I like and I will find a way to use it my regular day job.

Yes I agree to your message and our problem is not as complicated as we think it is, if our focus is in getting rid of the PFDJ regime.

Berhe

Kokhob Selam

Yes Dear Saleh,

I saw this while you put in YouTube early..it is very interesting and to the point. That is a lesson to that Solomon, and the likes and above all to of us too.

Now, this is a lesson that Karma is not a punishment and it isn’t always to get what you have put to the universe ..it is sometime you got to pay even if you don’t commit any mistake at all.. It is just that came from nature but if you are willing to correct it, it can be corrected by the such way and it will be corrected..if the other side is clean from any other type of corruption.

Thank you. I am totally cured now. See, I have gone through hard and difficult moments. It is all okay. Just an experience. during those difficult days I have learned a lot, it is nice time to come up after long time confusion ..

KS,,

Nitricc

That is the sprite; that is what I want to hear. You went through things but what it counts is you are out of it. Be safe. I always remember you when ever I read about 5G. lol.

I haven’t watched the video yet but read the text. It is interesting and engaging as usual. But given the complexity of Eritrea’s predicament and challenges, don’t you think we need extra large knife instead of a razor? And what would be the simplest solution when you suggested as such?

A.Osman

Selam Paulos,

The transcription missed the suggested answer.

Attribute all our problems to PFDJ, a way of focusing on the right target.

Paulos

Thank you A. Osman. Appreciated.

Saleh Johar

Paulos,
I don’t believe you think I am suggesting a “lama revolution’ -:) but focus (razor) is required before we worry about the size of the razor. i think.

Paulos

Selam Aya Saleh,

Not sure if you’ve read or heard of this Italian novel titled “Il Deserto Dei Tartari” where it is listed as one of the top 100 greatest novels of the last century. It was published in 1941. I read it in its original language back in Asmara. If you are interested, the English version is “The Desert of the Tartars” if you can not find the Italian publication that is.

The story is about this young guy who is the only son to his mother and as it happened he was drafted and called to the war front where the Tartars were said to had been mobilized to invade his country. He was reluctant and cried to his mother but he had to give in for it was compulsory. When he arrived at the front, the fellow young soldiers tell him that he is so lucky for he will be a national hero when he eventually defeats the in-coming Tartars. All of a sudden, he gets so excited so much so that he writes his mother of the prospect of being a national hero.

He waits for the Tartars to come but a year passed where no show of them. His Lieutenants tell him that, it is just a matter of days that, they will come and he renews his excitement and he writes his mother again. Before he knew it, twenty years passed by but the Tartars never came while he was still waiting for them at the trench. He had waited for far too long to let it go and he kept on waiting instead.

I don’t feel like telling you how the writer wanted to end the story for you will take me for a defeatist but perhaps others might say a realist instead.

Saleh Johar

Paulos,
No. I haven’t read the novel, but I will try to find it since you are proposing it. Besides, my Italian language skill is rudimentary, not enough to understand such novels 🙂

But I take it the Tartars never came and the boy hoisted the white flag. Right? Is there a white cloth in this world? i never seen one 🙂

Paulos

Aya Saleh,

The reason I held back the ending was not only the writer was cynical and unfair to the main character but it was not relevant to our discussion at hand as well. I guarantee you it was not ጻዕዳ ጨርቂ and I was not implying for us to do so. Far from it.

Saleh Johar

Haha, Paulos,
You know that some time we understand and interpret novels and parables differently. but it seems that Giovanni Drogo was reminiscing and regretting his 30 years wait for an imaginary enemy. That is what i suspected the end will be and that is why I brought the white flag.

We have many who deeply regret the Eritrean struggle or are having a buyer’s remorse. However, those who understood that the price of freedom is heavy, willingly paid and are willing to pay until the bill is fully settled–not denying that some tend to see things just like a street vendors would, in terms of loss and profit. Some things are invaluable and can’t be seen in that light.

But indeed, the novel is a nice read–the minute you mentioned it I dowloaded it and, guess what, it is 159 pages. I decided to start from the end and already read the last forty pages which I finished before I made this comment. it’s sad and funny how the soldiers were pulled into the imaginary scene and were counting dots of distant light spots flickering, through a telescope and how they became victims of the illusion of an advancing army and a road through the desert. I like the story and now i will start reading it from the beginning. It requires a thoroughly reading. thank you

Paulos

Aya Saleh,

I sure don’t mean to elevate myself to your level but I see myself in you for we seem to have a lot in common. And if I didn’t have that kind of impression about you, I wouldn’t have mentioned the novel to you. I am glad you checked it out and I am sure you will love it.

Certainly, the writer Dino Buzzati is a typical product of his generation where he wrote the book in a time when the apparition of war was hoovering over Europe. I wouldn’t call him a pacifist per see but someone who saw the banality and absurdity of war where glory and heroism are the follies of human illusion.

Moreover, war certainly is owned by people who more often than not rob our existence when they turn us into true believers for there could have been an alternative solution to what is usually believed that could only be solved through violence. Sixty thousand Eritreans wouldn’t have been wasted if the owners of war opted a peaceful solution to the Eritrean question, for instance. To make a point, Buzzati decided to have the young man contract Malaria before he finally gets the satisfaction of fighting off and defeating the Tartars but died of Malaria instead.

Ismail AA

Selam Saleh and Dr. Paulos,

Interesting exchanges. Life wasted due to aberration of human ego. Giovanni died alone in an inn (according to the Dutch version) before even reaching home. Man, ever since existence, has been inflicted by lust and ego beyond need and concurrent propensity to resort to violence to satiate them unless thwarted by personal weakness. Unfortunately, violence or war of one kind or another will continue to be part of human existence. No religion or civilization would rid humanity from wars. Are we not watching peoples in most advanced nations paying taxes to pay for annihilation weapons and destroy other peoples for the sake of own interest?

Paulos

Selam Kbur Haw Ismail AA,

It is true that only the dead sees the ends of war. Animals, one can make the argument that, resort to violence for they do not have a conduit for communication to settle their differences through peaceful means. On the other hand, humans are endowed with refined languages where it is meant help us communicate including resolving issues through dialogue and yet we resort into ugly and nasty violence.

If war is necessary is one of the philosophical conjecture which has puzzled thinkers alike where the central contradiction rests on the nature of the State itself. Simply because, it is constantly on a look out to safe guard it’s citizens from actual and perceived enemies. As much as fire is efficient but consumes if it is in excess, the State as well can turn into its citizens if it’s power exceeds beyond the resiliency of political institutions which are otherwise founded to rein on it.

If we are to delve in search of insights with regard to war, we will have to address human nature–if it is violent or a benevolent creature but gets corrupted by its environment instead. For instance, Sigmund Freud ones famously said, “H*mo H*mini Lopus”—Man is a wolf to a man. Locke and Hume on the other hand talked about Tabula Rasa where Man is a slot machine if you will where he exudes what he has taken in from his surroundings. The philosophical conjecture lingers nonetheless.

Ismail AA

Selam Dr. Paulos,
Indeed,”The philosophical conjecture lingers” and to the chagrin of pacifists.

Ismail AA

Selam Dr. Paulos,
I would say the razor is enough to trim the outgrowths on the margins. Awareness would take care of the rest.

Paulos

Selam Kbur Haw Ismail AA,

Rough edges and loose ends—Aya Saleh recommends Occam’s Razor to take care of the ends or the edges. Question is though, where do the rough edges or loose ends start and finish? How much do we trim and leave intact? Precisely because we can’t even identify with clarity what is the single important threat ailing the nation in the first place. Some say perhaps rightly so, it is the entire edifice or institutionalized PFDJ and and others say, it needs to be rehabilitated instead for they have been invested for far too long for they could be a thorn in the rose in the long run.

Ismail AA

Dear Dr. Paulos,

I concur with your thoughts that we have so far collectively failed to set nationally quantifiable agenda. Speaking for myself though, I would say the jist of the matter is not the PFDJ as an all encompassing edifice as you put. The razor or the trimming should fall of the institutionalized concepts, notions and ideology at its advanced stage on which the ruinous dictatorship had been built up. The persons or actors are less important than the culture of oppression that have been imposed on the people. Dealing with the actors and criminals will be the germane part of the change. Not anyone involved with the PFDJ regime is responsible for the crimes the big shots, including the capo, which the trimming or shaving would involve.